An effort to reinstate the waiver for residential home building permit fees moved ahead on Tuesday night.
On a 4-0 vote, the Unified Government Public Works and Safety Committee sent the waiver on to the full commission for a final vote.
Appearing at the committee meeting, developer Rusty Roberts told the UG commissioners that Kansas City, Kan., has roughly about 8 percent of the population of the metropolitan area, and has 3 to 4 percent of the new home building permits.
“So we’re way behind, losing business,” Roberts said, “losing new homebuyers that we should be getting – they’re going elsewhere.
“When you do the math, we’re falling behind,” he said.
This fee waiver program also was discussed at the Jan. 5 Economic Development and Finance Committee meeting. It includes the waiver of some fees for sewer permits. The fee waiver program had previously been in effect and ended Dec. 31, 2014.
UG Assistant Administrator Gordon Criswell showed the commission a chart that said the building and sewer permit fees of Kansas City, Kan., under this program were lower than that in Leawood, Kan., Olathe, Kan., Overland Park, Kan., and Raymore, Mo. They were higher than Liberty, Mo., and Lees Summit, Mo., according to the chart.
Commissioner Hal Walker said the builders’ main argument about continuing the waiver was that the fee waivers had offset the property taxes on a house. The idea of the UG waiving the permit fees had more to do with the property taxes on a $200,000 home here being significantly higher than they are in cities such as Leawood, Olathe and Overland Park, he said.
Walker said he did not have a problem with extending this waiver program another year because the city has shown an increase in building permits since it was implemented.
UG officials asked if the commission wanted to extend the fee waiver program just to streets that had already been platted, or for all areas.
“I want it to be a level table,” Commissioner Walker said. He wanted approval for all home building permits.